Original Articles
Hanine Al-Kayal, Hassan Abu Ab
Abstract
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is one of the major causes of increased morbidity and mortality in the world and it is characterized by persistent progressive airflow limitation accompanied by enhanced inflammatory response with enhanced levels of inflammatory mediators. The aim of our study was to determine levels of IL-6 and CRP as biomarkers in clinical evaluation of COPD patients. This study included 71 individuals: 12 patients with COPD exacerbation, 20 patients with severe to very severe COPD, 20 patients with mild to moderate COPD and 19 healthy controls (smokers and non-smokers). Serum levels of IL-6 and CRP were evaluated by ELISA. The results showed that both IL-6 and CRP were significantly increased (p<0.05) in serum of COPD patients (5.08 ±2.36 pg/mL), (14.12 ±10.90 mg/L) respectively as compared with healthy controls. COPD exacerbations showed also significant increased levels of IL-6 (7.35 ± 1.77 pg/mL) and CRP (30.39 ± 6.54 mg/L) as compared to healthy controls and to stable COPD stages. This indicates the systemic inflammation associated with COPD and suggests the possibility to use IL-6 and CRP as diagnostic biomarkers for COPD and to evaluate the inflammatory response in COPD patients.